The Truth Behind His Death
by Merlin-Herondale
Summary: Walking home to Avengers Tower, Steve and Tony find a mass of reporters blocking the door. They maneuver through the crowd, ignoring the annoying questions, when a particular question about Steve's 'death' is asked. (No Slash).


HELLO MY FELLOW AVENGER FANS! This is just a simple one-shot, I hope you all enjoy it. (I do not own MARVEL or any of the beautiful characters below.)

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Tony Stark was accustomed to having cameras in his face. The flashing lights stinging his eyes, people demanding his attention, yelling his name. People ask him why he always wears sun glasses at press conferences', he always just smiles and replies; "for the cameras", to which everyone assumes he is just being an ass.

Today through, on the late October sky, clouds hovered over New York City, causing Pepper to smile when she sees the orange shades on his face. The reporters were flashing their cameras, yelling for their attention. Tony listened in amusement when his name was shouted more than Steve's. Though Steve wore no mask, and the public knew his name from the textbooks they read in school, they seemed to have enough respect for the war hero to refrain from calling out his name, instead they stuck with Captain America, or Captain if they were lazy. "Mr. Stark, Tony, Tony, Mr. Stark, Captain, Tony," the many reporters were shouting over each other, trying to get the inside scoop on Earths Mightiest Heroes.

Captain America and Ironman were on their way home from a small bakery in Brooklyn. When Steve had realized that the bakery had somehow survived since his childhood, he had demanded to visit. Tony was in the car when the super solider had first noticed it, and the first Avenger to accompany Steve to the old bakery. Steve had taken each Avenger there, one at a time, it was a sweet bonding routine that he had somehow began. Now, the two off-duty superheroes were crossing the street, Avengers Tower and a group of reporters awaiting them on the other side.

Steve was smiling kindly towards the cameras, Tony on the other hand, wore his poker face, his annoyance at the fact he couldn't walk into his own home setting his temper on edge.

The reporters were shouting questions at them, their voices drowning over each others; "How did you defeat the alien poachers?"

"Are you taking on more members of your team?"

"Why don't you work with Spider Man?"

"Do you have any code words, or safe words?"

"Tony, are you working on another project? Is it like Ironman?"

"Why unleash the Hulk? Can you trust him?"

"Mr. Stark, will you ever give Ironman up?"

Tony and Steve kept from answering the questions. Steve replied with a kind, "no comment" every now and then, while Tony cursed and pushed his way through the mass of reporters with Steve following close behind.

"Do the Avengers work for SHIELD or are you guys separate?"

"Can we trust SHIELD? Is HYDRA really back?"

"Why a shield Captain? That's not very deadly."

"Where was Thor when you guys were in San Francisco?"

Steve and Tony were only a few feet away from the entrance to Avengers Tower when a young red-haired male reporter's question sounded above all the other voices. "Captain, how does it feel knowing that you died for nothing?"

Both Avengers stopping walking, and Steve froze in his place; the question bringing back an unexpected wave of emotions and past memories. Tony turned around and shouted at the reporter, swearing like a mad sailor. He knew Pepper would disapprove, but in this current moment he didn't care.

After a moment Tony stopped yelling and turned his attention towards Steve, who had taken a deep, shaky breath. He lowered his voice so only Steve could hear. "Steve? Are you alright?"

After a moment Steve turned his head and looked at Tony, with no trace of emotion on his face. _This isn't Steve, _Tony thought to himself. _This is Captain America. _

Steve turned his attention towards the reporter and simply said, "I didn't crash the plane to stop HYDRA." Silence erupted the previous chaotic scene. The same red-haired reporter asked a follow-up question; which resulted in more curses from Tony.

"_Then why did you do it?_" The question echoed throughout Steve's mind. He saw flashbacks of his past; he saw himself promise his mother that he would stop getting into fights, he saw himself standing over her grave, promising that he would be the good boy that she had raised him to be. He saw the first time he met Bucky, and some of their crazy adventures. Steve's mind played back the moment that Steve said goodbye to Bucky, wishing him luck and safety in the war. Steve remembered meeting Dr. Erskine and Peggy for the first time. He saw himself getting the serum and chasing down Dr. Erskine's killer. He watching himself touring America with the show girls. The time he went over enemy lines and brought American soldiers back to safety. Steve remembered the Howling Commando's and their missions. He felt his heart scream in agony at the memory of watching Bucky fall to his death because Steve wasn't quick enough. He thought back to Peggy's kiss, and his fight against Schmidt. The conversation he had with Peggy as he crashed the plane replayed in his mind. Steve remembered waking up in a strange place, in a new time, and joining a new team three weeks later to stop aliens from destroying the very city he crashed a plane to save. Steve replayed the times he had visited Peggy in the hospital, and how she always smiled so bright when she saw him; she always remembered who he was.

Reality hit Steve like a freight train, the reporter's question ringing in his head again. _Then why did you do it? _

Steve realized the only person talking was Tony; his unkind words shouting at the mass of people; all of whom waited patiently for Steve to answer. Their cameras and microphones were all position in prime positions to hear the soldiers answer. Steve took another deep breath, internally wincing when he heard how it shook. His large hand moved to rest on Tony's shoulder, in an attempt to silence the other man. "There were missiles on the plane, a whole cargo of them." In his mind he could hear SHIELD yelling at him, he heard his commanding officers ordering him to stop, but Steve knew that if he ran from this question, it would haunt him forever, following him each time someone looked at him questionably. So Steve forced himself to continue talking. "Each missile was already locked and loaded, their departure only minutes away." He took a deep breath, trying to keep Steve Rodgers hidden at the moment. "The plane itself was damaged in my fight against Red Skull, who at the time, was the leader of HYDRA. The plane was heading straight for New York, and the landing wasn't going to be pretty." Steve knew everyone was craning their ears for the story of how Captain America 'died', even Tony was quietly listening, though when Steve looked over out of the corner of his eye he saw a look of worry etched into the usual sarcastic face. "Many innocent lives were in danger. I crashed the plane in the water to save the lives of unsuspecting Americans who were living here, on the home front."

The moment of silence that followed his responds felt much too short to Tony. He was shocked with Steve's answer, but also knew it was one question that if it had gone unanswered, would have turned the public against Captain America. Once again Tony and Steve were being asked a thousand questions at the same time, though unlike before, most were being asked to Steve.

"Was there anyone else on the plane?"

"Was it a difficult decision, Captain?"

"Captain, if you were in that situation again, what would you do?"

"Mr. Stark, did you know why he crashed the plane?"

"Do you guys share past experiences?"

Tony was fed up with the reporters and was about to tell them off again, only Steve had beat him to it. "No comment," said Steve simply before he grabbed Tony's hand and began walking towards the entrance to Avengers Tower. Tony allowed him to be pulled through the remainder of the reporters, too shocked at the gentle tone his Captain had just used after such an outrages question. The two men managed to make it through the main doors, but Steve didn't let go of Tony's hand; not until they were safely in the elevator and the metal doors shut.

JARVIS must have been aware of what had just occurred outside, because the usual greeting he did whenever an Avenger entered the elevator was inexistent; silence filling the small space. The ding that informed them they were at their destination broke the silence, followed by Tony's voice. "I think you handled that pretty well, Steve." The super solider was surprised to hear the kind words, no sarcasm laced into them.

"I agree," a quiet voice spoke up. Looking up Steve saw Bruce sitting at the counter drinking herbal tea, the TV on in the living room with new coverage of the main entrance to Avengers Tower playing. Bruce was in perfect view of the television from where he sat. Steve sighed and walked into the kitchen, heading towards the stovetop.

"Mind if I have some tea?"

Bruce smiled, and shook his head side to side. "No, not at all. Go right ahead Steve." Bruce and Tony watched in silence as Steve poured the freshly boiled water into a mug, then placed a tea bag in it, slowly bouncing the packet up and down in the water to mix it up a bit. Steve was thankful at their silence, he hated the fact that his past was common knowledge, and didn't enjoy revealing any further details into his life than the public seemed to already know. The last thing he wanted was to talk about the crash, much less have a wave of flashbacks attack him in front of the world. He was emotionally exhausted and wanted nothing more than to drink a nice cup of tea and finish the drawing he had started the night before. Steve allowed a small smile to grace his lips when he realized that Bruce and Tony must have realized that the last thing Steve wanted to do right now was talk.

"I'll be in my room, if you guys need anything," said Steve as he picked his mug off of the counter and began heading for his room.

"Taking a nap gramps? After a good ol' cup of tea. I'm proud of you Steve, I'm glad to see you actually act your own age."

Steve replied over his shoulder, about to enter the elevator that would take him to his floor. "Yeah, maybe you can take a leaf out of my book and start acting yours."

Bruce snorted under his breath, a few drops of his tea hitting the counter. He quickly whipped it off with his sleeve. By the time he was done Steve was already in the elevator and Tony was stomping off to his lab, pouting at what Steve said. Shaking his head, Bruce took another sip of his tea and tried to take in the silence once more. He heard the familiar ding from the elevator and the next thing he knew Clint was coming into the room, dressed in his Hawkeye suit. Followed by Clint was Thor, with his loud voice. Bruce smiled and laughed quietly to himself before following Steve's example and drinking the rest of his tea in the peace and quiet of his room.

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I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT!

If you have any requests or story ideas, feel free to message me! I would love to try writing a prompt one of you create.

Have a wonderful rest of the morning/afternoon/night.


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